Italianate house

My mother and I have always been interested in the paranormal sphere of activity, and have long felt receptive to it's influence.  My sister also experiences these supernatural "feelings", but is reluctant to admit it, as it scares her immensely.

       Over the past year I have experienced some disturbing occurences that will not go away.  It started when I moved out from my parents' house last year, for the only time yet in my life.  The apartment was half of an Italianate house dating from the 1870's, originally built by a man named Silas Cole.  (My roommate, Liz, and I did our homework on the house after the occurences).  It was strangely decorated, but usually felt very comfortable in the house, especially in my bedroom (the master bedroom), until one night about a month after I moved in, approximately middle December, 2002.  This particular night I got up to turn the light off in my room, then went and laid back down in my bed.  (You'll have to pardon my language in the upcoming section of this e-mail.  I need to relate exactly what I heard).  When I laid back down in bed and got comfortable, I heard a masculine voice yell from behind me, "I'M F*CKING RIGHT HERE!"  I jumped out of bed and yelled back, "Hello?!", but when I didn't hear anything, I flipped the lights on, only to find no one in the bed.  At this point, you need to understand that I lay on my bed with about six inches in between me and a solid brick wall, obviously not enough space for a human to occupy.  This scared me witless, since the noise came from directly behind me.  Whatever it was was angry with me, I could somehow just tell.

       After that I slept with my lights on for a couple of weeks, until I was comfortable with turning them off again.  Things went well for a while, until about March.  Again, one night I went to flip my lights off and actually made it to sleep.  All of the sudden, in the middle of the night, I woke up to hear someone whispering to me from directly behind my head, in the same spot.  I was slightly incoherent at first, due to my sleepy state, but when I realized what was going on, I said "Hello?" a few times, but to no response.  I got out of bed and turned on the lights, but still nothing was there.  It didn't scare me as much this time, because I knew somehow that it wasn't angry.

       It didn't happen again while I lived at the apartment, and I thought I had seen the last of it when I moved back with my parents in May.  I was very, very wrong.  It has happened to me numerous times in my bedroom at home, which is next to my parents, and both of my brothers' bedrooms.  For the first several times, it occurred just as it had in the apartment, with gentle whispering, and a quiet tone.  I would always say "Hello?" or "Who's here?", but always to no response.

       However, in about October, the voice wasn't all that began to occur. When the voice would wake me up, or talk to me when I just got into bed, I would follow with my typical response, then flip over and see a man laying next to me in bed, looking at me.  It's always dark, so all I can tell is that he has dark hair and is about my age, maybe a little older.  When I see this I scream and jump out of bed, and he is always there until the exact second I turn the light on.  Whenever the light is on, he is gone.

       I thought that this was at least constricted to when I am alone in the dark, but I was incorrect about that, as well.  I went to Florida for Christmas vacation this year with my grandparents, parents, sister, and two brothers (I am the oldest child), and had to share a bed with my sister. This worked wonderfully, and sleeping with the lights off was no problem, because I thought I was safe.  One night I was sleeping in bed with my sister, when suddenly the talking started again.  I flipped over and he was laying in between me and my sister, staring at me.  I flipped the lights on, since they were on the nightstand directly next to the bed, and "poof", he was gone.  This scared me out of my wits, and I still sleep with the lights on to this day because of that experience.

       I know I shouldn't be afraid, because I'm sure that he doesn't want to harm me, at least not now, but for some reason I'm scared out of my mind of him.  I think he just likes to talk to me, and watch over me.  I think he protects me, but he's still frightening.  The really strange thing is that, after that initial encounter, I can never remember a single word he says to me.  All I seem to be able to remember is that he is telling me something fairly important, either divulging something about himself or giving me advice, and it is always soothing anymore.

       I really don't know what to do about this situation, and it is getting hard to get to sleep anymore because I am afraid.

       Sincerely,

       Michelle Strong

P.S.- I also hope to be joining Indiana Ghost Trackers soon.